Just minutes after midnight Friday, the House of Representatives passed an amendment prohibiting the Drug Enforcement Agency from interfering with state medical marijuana laws.

Reflecting growing support for medical marijuana, the House passed the amendment 219-189, marking the first time such an amendment has passed in Congress. In the last 10 years, several federal drug raids on legal medical marijuana growers led to calls from medical marijuana proponents that the threat of federal oversight would chill a business deemed legal under state law.

“This would make it so the DEA cannot go and bust those patients and doctors or support system in a state that’s legalized it,” Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif., who helped lead the way on the amendment, said in a news call Friday. “You have to respect state law on this matter.”

For small medical marijuana dispensaries that are paying local and state taxes, it could provide relief from the threat of jail time just for operating, says Joelle Riddle, manager at MHS, a medical marijuana dispensary in Durango.

“A huge reason why we work in the industry is we hope we are standing up for patients who want the right to medicate and handle their health in a different manner than the pharmaceutical drug companies,” Riddle said.

While the amendment has a long way to go, Dan Riffle, director of federal policy for the Marijuana Policy Center, says it showed something positive in grid-locked Congress.

“By any yardstick in Washington, this was bipartisan,” Riffle said. “We saw Republicans who don’t support medical marijuana but voted for it because it preserves state rights.”

But not everyone’s on board.

“This will take away from the Department of Justice’s ability to protect our young people,” John Fleming, R-La., said while testifying during the hearing Friday night.

The House also passed two amendments that would allow educational research to continue on industrial hemp without restraint from the DEA. Earlier this month, the state of Kentucky sued the DEA for confiscating hemp seeds the state purchased for research.

The amendment passed is far from being signed into law and must head to the Democratic-controlled Senate next week.

“We still have a long way to go, and we can’t forget that we need the federal government to recognize that medical marijuana is a legitimate enterprise,” Riddle said.

mbowerman @durangoherald.com. Mary Bowerman is graduate student at American University in Washington, D.C., and an intern for The Durango Herald.

How Colorado representatives voted

Yes

Diana DeGette, D-Denver

Jared Polis, D-Boulder

Mike Coffman, R-Aurora

Ed Perlmutter, D-Golden

No

Scott Tipton, R-Cortez

Cory Gardner, R-Yuma

Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs